Russia has launched a criminal investigation against three Abkhazian opposition members — MP Kan Kvarchiya, Eshsou Kakaliya, and Khina Dumaa — on charges of armed robbery. The case concerns a clash the three had gotten into with Russian political consultants who were in Abkhazia during the local elections earlier in November.
The Sochi Department of Internal Affairs in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai charged the three on Monday, accusing them of committing armed robbery amounting to ₽1.9 million ($24,000) against the political consultants.
‘In the future, these individuals will be put on the international wanted list through Interpol channels’, the department said. There appeared to be no notice placed for the three opposition members on the Interpol’s website as of publication.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Kvarchiya, Kakaliya, and Dumaa — all of whom are members of the Aidgylara public organisation — stated that they did not intend to abandon their political activities, calling the criminal case an act of political persecution.
The case concerns the three opposition figures’ involvement in a clash with and subsequent deportation of three Russian political consultants, or ‘journalists’ who were in Abkhazia during the 5 November local elections to support Team Abkhazia, a controversial NGO widely seen to be acting as both the proxy of Abkhazian President Badra Gunba and Russia. The confrontation appeared to have stemmed from the belief that the consultants were working for Team Abkhazia without proper registration and accreditation.
Ivan Reva, one of the Russian ‘journalists’ working for Team Abkhazia involved in the confrontation, admitted that he and his associates had hired people to tear down posters of candidates not affiliated with Team Abkhazia.
Following the confrontation, Abkhazian law enforcement officers came to the office and took away the three Russian consultants, with local media then reporting that they had been deported from Abkhazia.
During the Tuesday press conference, Kvarchiya emphasised that by handing over the political consultants to the police, they had hoped that the State Security Service and Interior Ministry would put them under investigation.
‘We, people who deal with state matters, called the State Security Service ourselves to detain these people, whose actions, in our opinion, were unlawful. But there was no reaction’, Kvarchiya said.
Kakaliya additionally claimed that the consultants had ‘involved minors in their illegal activities, enticing them financially’.
The Aidgylara members have said that they have not received any information about a possible investigation launched against the three consultants by Abkhazian law enforcement agencies.
Kakaliya said that Russia had opened a case against 15 people in total, ‘according to information we have’.
‘This is a purely political matter […] this is an attempt to intimidate us, stop us, and silence us’, Kakaliya continued.
He added that he was counting on the government’s protection from persecution by Russia, but expressed doubt that Abkhazian legislation would not be violated. He said that the three of them did not intend to defend their rights in Russia.
‘The very fact that a criminal case has been opened on Russian territory is a clear demonstration of the Russian authorities’ attitude toward our government. This is called disrespect. This is disrespect for Badre Gunba and his entire team’, Kakaliya said.
On Tuesday, as the Aidgylara members gave their statements, Abkhazian Prosecutor General Adgur Agrba released a video statement saying that Abkhazia intended to protect its citizens, and that it would not extradite them to Russia.
The following day, marked as Constitution Day in Abkhazia, President Gunba said that citizens of Abkhazia ‘shall not be surrendered to another state for criminal prosecution, regardless of the offence of which they are suspected’.
According to Abkhaz World, Gunba added that any alleged crimes committed by Abkhazians must be investigated and adjudicated in Abkhazia.
‘No citizen of Abkhazia will, under any circumstances, be handed over to a foreign state. Full stop.’
For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.
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